A Commons committee has recommended the current Canadian government be found in contempt of Parliament, but the ruling party, Conservatives, have a chance of a historic censure if a vote on the budget or other events launch an election first.

The Commons procedure and house affairs committee tabled a majority report Monday concluding that the government is "in contempt" for continually refusing to disclose information about the cost of several major legislative items. They are referring to documents related to the cost of several items including its law-and-order agenda, corporate tax cuts and a plan to buy stealth combat jets. All of the opposition members of Parliament on the committee voted to condemn the government for withholding the requested documents without giving "adequate reasons" for doing so.

"This is an unprecedented cascade of abuse," Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said during a press conference on Monday. He detailed various alleged abuses including scandals involving influence peddling and election fraud, in addition to contempt. "The issue here is one of trust. How can Canadians remain trusting of a government guilty of such flagrant abuse of power?"

New Democrat Leader Jack Layton said he he will wait for the budget before deciding to support the government, but admitted that the contempt charge adds another layer to the whole situation.

"The committee has found the government in contempt and that’s a very serious finding," Layton told reporters. "There’s no doubt it makes it more difficult to operate around here when you’re dealing with a government that’s so contemptuous of Canadians."

If the report is adopted by lawmakers it would mark the first time in Canada's history that the government has been found in contempt of Parliament. Hypothetically, an adoption of this report could mean jail time for the government.

On March 10 Prime Minister Stephen Harper dismissed House Speaker Peter Milliken's comments that led to three days of contempt hearings as part of "the game of democratic politics."

All of this aside, this report could have the effect of pushing any other important legislation out for years. For example, votes on the copyright reform bill, C-32, will not happen for a long time, and a possible spring election could further complicate things.

Comments

If our current government is not found in contempt, it is likely going to have its budget voted down which means we see another election in the next couple of weeks. If either of the circumstances should occur and parliament is shut down Bill C-32 will be killed (for the third time). It will need to be re-introduced as a new bill if they want to bring it back.

Being found in contempt, or having the budget voted down, really are not game related issues though. Would have been better to focus on what this meant for the bill IMO.

For those interested, the budget has been rejected by the opposition and the Financial Minister, Jim Flaherty has refused to amend it. It looks like a non-confidence vote could come very soon, especially given the fact that they have been found in contempt of parliament. Harper is being very strategic, as he has said he will not disband parliament (he knows Canadians do not want another election). If Ignatieff decides to go ahead, I have a feeling we'll end up in yet another minority government because I don't think the Conservatives that far ahead in the polls.

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Sora-Chan: Con't. Games like AC are a pain to someone like me who likes to play games in order. So when a game gets too many releases too quickly, it puts me off. Only exceptions are games that have no interconnected underlying stories like the FF games.03/31/2015 - 2:53pm

Sora-Chan: Wikipedia has rarely let me down on matters like this. But yeah... AC needs a break.. like two.. or three... or eight years.03/31/2015 - 2:51pm

Conster: There's 9 already?! I think I played 1, 2, and the ones inbetween 2 and 3.03/31/2015 - 2:23pm

Sora-Chan: Con't There are now Nine... of just the main entries into the series. There are 13 more in the "other games" department.03/31/2015 - 2:15pm

Sora-Chan: I tried to get into AC. Was having a decent time with the first one, at which point they had already released three titles. Then a fourth came out... then a fifth... the wall kept growing before I could finish the first.03/31/2015 - 2:14pm

Daniel Lewis: I think ubisoft should give AC a break before it's milked to death,and i'm a big fan of the games03/31/2015 - 1:15pm

Daniel Lewis: The only thing said i disagree with is the final quote on Men's experiences are seen to be universal but women are gendered,though doesn't anita say that games with male protagonists are male power fantasies,so in turn both are gendered03/31/2015 - 1:08pm

Daniel Lewis: i found the video to be much better than any of the TvW series and it's about time the positive women are put in the spotlight03/31/2015 - 1:06pm

Daniel Lewis: So feministfrequency released a positive female character video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXmj2yJNUmQ03/31/2015 - 1:05pm

Daniel Lewis: I think the guy who made the direct leak said it was an april fools joke when a real one was announced03/31/2015 - 12:43pm

MaskedPixelante: No way Nintendo would let information like that get out. Remember, they shut down a memoir about the localization of Earthbound by enforcing a 20 year old NDA on the author.03/31/2015 - 12:42pm

james_fudge: Conster: the larger issue is that Ind. does not protect LGBTQ+ people under state law03/31/2015 - 12:11pm

PHX Corp: @MP I think it is confirmed(not an April Fools joke) http://mynintendonews.com/2015/03/31/nintendo-direct-confirmed-for-wednesday-april-1st/03/31/2015 - 12:00pm

Conster: Apparently Pence intends to amend SB101 so denying service isn't allowed - without explicitly protecting LGBT+ and while still allowing the many other things you can get away with now if it's motivated by your religious beliefs.03/31/2015 - 11:53am

MaskedPixelante: http://mynintendonews.com/2015/03/30/rumour-nintendo-direct-on-april-1st/ A supposed full leak of tomorrow's Nintendo Direct, so you can all laugh and laugh about how wrong it is.03/31/2015 - 11:35am

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/why-a-tekken-7-character-is-being-called-a-phoney-1694724959 Why a Tekken 7 Character Is Being Called a Phoney03/31/2015 - 10:08am

Michael Chandra: Argh. Anyway, I'm glad that move was made. Wonder if it counts, can he just declare it like that? 03/31/2015 - 9:27am

Zen: Conster - Good, it's a BS law that exists to just allow hate basically. Glad people are standing up to it. Sadly it should never have passed to begin with though.03/31/2015 - 8:39am